The families of Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling greet them Wednesday in California.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee
For The Los Angeles Times

We arrived at the frozen river separating China and North Korea at 5 o'clock on the morning of March 17. The air was crisp and still, and there was no one else in sight. As the sun appeared over the horizon, our guide stepped onto the ice. We followed him.

We had traveled to the area to document a grim story of human trafficking for Current TV. During the previous week, we had met and interviewed several North Korean defectors - women who had fled poverty and repression in their homeland, only to find themselves living in a bleak limbo in China. Some had, out of desperation, found work in the online sex industry; others had been forced into arranged marriages.

Now our guide, a Korean Chinese man who often worked for foreign journalists, had brought us to the Tumen River to document a well-used trafficking route and chronicle how the smuggling operations worked.

There were no signs marking the international border, no fences, no barbed wire. But we knew our guide was taking us closer to the North Korean side of the river. As he walked, he began making deep, low hooting sounds, which we assumed was his way of making contact with North Korean border guards he knew. The previous night, he had called his associates in North Korea on a black cellphone he kept for that purpose, trying to arrange an interview for us. He was unsuccessful, but he could, he assured us, show us the no-man's land along the river, where smugglers pay off guards to move human traffic from one country to another.

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Elise Labott and Candy Crowley
CNN

Two top North Korean diplomats are traveling to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to hold talks with Gov. Bill Richardson, a U.S. source with knowledge of the visit and a senior State Department official tell CNN.

Kim Myong Gil and Taek Jong Ho, senior diplomats with the North Korean mission to the United Nations, are scheduled for a two-day meeting with Richardson, the sources said.

Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has traveled to North Korea several times in the past, most recently in April 2007 to secure the return of remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.

The U.S. source with knowledge of the visit said that the North Koreans asked Richardson for the meeting.

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Freed journalist Euna Lee is followed by Laura Ling off their plane Wednesday in California.

Laura Ling
LauraandEuna.com

Dear Friends,

While in detention in North Korea, isolated and scared, one of the things that gave me strength and sustained my faith was hearing about the groundswell of support for Euna and me. You were a part of this incredible movement and for that I will be forever thankful.

Through the letters that I was able to receive, I learned about the many beautiful vigils, the LauraAndEuna.com website, the petition, the Facebook group, and all the other grassroots efforts to bring us home. I am deeply humbled.

In times of extreme darkness and depression, I thought of all of the people, united together, sending us messages of love and hope. I envisioned the light of the candles at the vigils and it brightened my soul.

I would not be here today, home and free, re-united with my family (my sister is actually asleep on the couch right by my side), if not for the support from so many extraordinary people. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Words cannot adequately express my profound gratitude.

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Former President Clinton arrives to a warm welcome in Pyongyang, North Korea, last week.

Sarah Wang
Slate

North Korea left no traces in my passport, not even a visa. It showed that I left China in July and returned four days later. There was no indication of where I had been, except that I passed through customs in Dandong, a city in northeastern China that borders the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In those four "lost" days, I traveled to Pyongyang and Kaesong, North Korea, with a dozen "potential investors" from China. Most of the people in the group were businessmen interested in buying factories, land, mines, and timber in the DPRK whenever the prohibitions on such purchases are removed.

With each passing day, the businessmen got more and more agitated because they couldn't use their computers or mobile phones—they weren't even allowed to bring them into the country. There is no Internet access in North Korea—the Pyongyang elite use an intranet to listen to music and watch movies. There are three TV channels, and North Koreans usually go to telephone booths when they need to make calls.

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Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
US Department of State

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) is a dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) and chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC), the "highest office of state." The country has an estimated population of 23.5 million. Kim's father, the late Kim Il-sung, remains "eternal president." Local elections held in July 2007 were not free or fair. There was no civilian control of the security forces, and members of the security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses.

The government's human rights record remained poor, and the regime continued to commit numerous serious abuses. The regime subjected citizens to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives. Citizens did not have the right to change their government. There continued to be reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, and political prisoners. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening, and torture occurred. Pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases, and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons.

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The journalists share an emotional reunion with their families Wednesday at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.

www.lauraandeuna.com

Visit their website: http://www.lauraandeuna.com/ for more coverage, information and photographs of Laura and Euna.

Freed journalist Euna Lee is followed by Ling as they step off their plane Wednesday in California.

Mallika Chopra
Intent.com

Watching Laura Ling and Euna Lee step off the plane this morning seemed like a scene from a movie. It had all the drama – two young girls, after 140 days in captivity in the rogue nation of North Korea, rescued by President Clinton, running into the warm embraces and tears of their families. Two women looking at their husbands with soulful gratitude and endearing love, holding their tearful parents, a little girl hugging her mom to welcome her home.

In mid March, when my brother called me to say that it seemed that Laura, one of his dearest friends, had been captured in N. Korea while shooting a documentary, he sounded despondent. There were very few details, but Lisa Ling, Laura’s sister and also a close friend of Gotham’s, had a dreaded sense of panic. Days, weeks, then months passed with little news and no contact. Then a meeting with the Swedish Ambassador, a letter, a phone call – an agonizing and painful process that tortured the girl’s families.

Despite my blogs about them, I have to admit that I am personally not close to Laura Ling or Euna Lee. However, my brother’s deep-rooted friendship with Laura has seen each other through work, weddings, and life changes. Through the years, whenever I have met either Laura or Lisa, and as I have watched their stories and heard about their passion and compassion from my brother, I have developed a sense of respect for the Ling sisters, two girls who have the heart, the brains and the courage to tell hard stories.

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The families of Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling greet them Wednesday in California.

Suvro Banerji
AC360° Intern

American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are finally back home with their families after nearly five months of imprisonment in North Korea. Tonight, we will show you the emotional family reunion, the tears of joy and then Laura Ling in her own words talking briefly to the reporters.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to call former President Bill Clinton’s dramatic 20-hour long trip a private humanitarian effort. Tom Foreman will have more on Clinton’s role in this release and what impact this could potentially have on U.S. foreign policy in future. CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen and Peter Brookes, a former defense department official and currently a senior fellow on National Security Affairs at the Heritage Foundation will join us live to talk more about this issue.

Also tonight, we have new details on that killing spree at a health club south of Pittsburgh we reported on last night. The police now reveal a possible motive. The insight coming from an online diary, as well as notes they found at the scene and at his home.

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Editor's Note: After 140 days in North Korean captivity, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee arrived home in California today. Former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang earlier this week to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who decided to pardon the two women yesterday. For the latest on the two journalist's return, tune in AC360° tonight at 10p ET.

AC360°

Laura Ling and Euna Lee walk off the plane in Burbank, California.

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